The Republic of Heaven
by strawberryy2345
Summary: A year after leaving each other, Lyra and Will go to the botanical garden to sit on the bench and reflect upon their time both together and apart.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own His Dark Materials or any of the characters. This story is simply a product of my impatience for the movie to come out.**

**"That's the duty of the old, to be anxious on behalf of the young. And the duty of the young to scorn the anxiety of the old. They sat for a while longer, and then parted, for it was late, and they were old and anxious." The Golden Compass

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"Come _on_ Pan, its almost 12."  
"What do you think I've been saying for the past ten minutes? Lets get going"

It was midsummer's day, the appointed day for Will and Lyra to meet. Lyra had been anticipating, dreading, but counting on this day for months. The only day in the entire year for the rest of her life that she would know where he was, what he was doing; The last and only link she would ever have with him in this lifetime.

She'd come far in the past year. Looking at the running pine marten in front of her, Lyra knew this. The first weeks after Will had left, she'd come to the botanical gardens almost obsessively. The last link she had with Will.

But she had grown since then. Looking down at Pan, she smiled slightly. They had both matured a lot in the past year. She'd be forever grateful to Dame Sophia, and the girls in her new home. For once, she had some real girlfriends. And she found that the girls weren't _that_ bad. Being the natural leader that she was, she had made friends easily, and had her own group. And it was refreshing for once, to know that these new found friends weren't going anywhere.

Her two old best friends had both left her. First there had been Roger. She didn't want to think about this though. It had been awhile since she thought about the circumstances surrounding his death. All her fault. But she'd also been the one to lead him to freedom. Because of her, he was with her now; One of those atoms that made up the botanical garden where she was heading. Hurrying her walk to a steady jog, she reached the gates to let herself in.

She thought about Will, the reason where she was now. But this wasn't much of a change, she thought about him almost everyday. Walking through the garden, she saw the old Simon Parslow engraving. Laughing, but with tears in her eyes, she stopped to look at it for awhile. There was the first link that had let them know they lived in parallel worlds. Looking at the lamppost above her, she saw the second link. The anbaromagnetic electricity. Shaking her head sadly, she moved on. Looking down at Pan beside her, she was glad she had him. Eternally grateful they were still joined.

Heading to the designated bench, she sat down with something like apprehension. Her and Will, they had been through a lot. How many people could say they'd been to another world? No one in her world even believed there were multiple words, still claiming the Barnard Stokes Theory heresy. And on top of traveling between multiple worlds, who else could claim to know of what happened in the afterlife, or that they were the cause of why there _was_ an after life. No one, she knew that. Only two people in the thousands of worlds. Two people who would never physically see each other again, two people who were physically joined solely one hour in a year.

She wanted to tell him about her life. About how Ma Costa had her over for dinner every Sunday when she was in town. About how she hardly ever got into trouble anymore, because Pan could always, using his witchlike trait, warn her when someone was coming. About how she had lied her way out of almost 5 engagements to be here today. About how her parents had died.

Looking back, she realized that maybe her parents weren't so bad after all. While both had scared her in real life, she guessed that they had actually loved her. After all, they had both sacrificed their lives for her, and for all mankind. Her parents had actually, beneath it all, been decent people. She smiled slightly at this, but soon lost her smile as thought about Will's parents. She wanted to know all about Will's life.

She wondered, for the thousandth time, what Will had been doing, how his mother was, if he still lived with Mary. Questions she knew would never be answered.

She had brought the alethiometer with her, just for old time sakes. Bringing it out of her pouch, she fingered the outsides of it lightly. True to her word, Dame Sophia had been tutoring her in reading it. While Lyra had sometimes thought she caught a glimpse of understanding, she still could never read it with her old simplicity, the old ladders of understanding. And she knew she probably never would be able to again.

But today, there was a different magic in the air. She thought, maybe just today, she might be able to. Looking down at it, her fingers traced the symbols on the side, the camel, the anchor, the ant. And subconsciously, or maybe not, she saw herself forming a question.

_What's Will up to?_

And she almost did. Her hands were even on the symbols, turning the dials to point to the right ones, which for some reason she saw all the levels.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Pan, who had been sitting silently on the bench for the past hour, slightly move his leg. Looking at her soulfully in the eyes, Lyra knew she shouldn't. Still, she could. It was right in front of her. She could. She could know everything she wanted to about Will.

But was it fair? He had no way of knowing what was going on with her. Was it right of her to keep track of his life when he couldn't keep track of hers? And what if something was going wrong in his, would it be even worse to know of it, and be able to do nothing?

Sighing, she fingered the alethiometer, but never moved the dials. Sitting here was enough. And it would be enough for the rest of her life. And she couldn't keep obsessing over Will, or she'd never live, never have a story to tell Gracious Wings about. Smiling slightly, with tears threatening to fall, she put the alethiometer back in the pouch. She had to live her life in this world, with Pantalaimon, with the Master of Jordan College, with the Gyptains, with Dame Sophia, with her boarding school, even with Iorek and Serafina.

She had to build her own Republic of Heaven.

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**A/N so this is my first story ever. so sorry if the formatting is weird im still new at this whole thing lol anyways tell me what you think? next chapter will be of Will's POV, same time same place. anybody else uber excited for the movie? **


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I still dont own His Dark Materials, or any of the characters.

"We have to build the Republic of Heaven where we are, because for us there is no elsewhere." The Amber Spyglass

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"Bye mum, I'll be back soon. In about an hour." Will waited for a response, but waited in vain. Sighing heavily, he walked out. 

She was in one of her moods. He thought she had been doing a lot better; she hadn't been scared in a while. But, he supposed, all good things come to an end. Even so, he still had Lyra to look forward to.

He _needed_ today, needed it so much that he didn't even know how much he was counting on it. How much he was counting on being close to Lyra. How much he was counting on today to raise his spirits.

She had been doing so much better in the past few months, her fits of anxiety becoming fewer and farer in between. But he knew that they would always come. But with Mary's help, his mother was becoming stronger. And when she had one of her moods, and Will was at school and couldn't take care of her, he knew he would always be able to count on Mary.

When he had first gone to Mrs. Cooper's house to pick his mother up, he had been scared. Although Lyra's reassurances that his mother was still being taken care of had calmed him down considerably, it had been a while since he last heard anything about her. He was almost terrified that she had been placed somewhere. But for once, luck was on his side. He found his mother exactly as he left her. He knew it had been a huge shock for Mrs. Cooper to see him again. He had treated her horribly, and he felt bad. But really, what choice had he had?

The night he had come back to his world, he had called her, just to check in, see how his mother was, and see if the two ladies would be home tomorrow. When he arrived on her doorstep, with Mary in tow, he was so different Mrs. Cooper had hardly recognized him. Aside from the difference in his hand, he had a different expression. She could tell, just from looking at him, that while he felt an immense amount of gratitude towards her, that she would never receive an explanation about why he had left. But from the tender manner that he handled his mother, the way his eyes softened and the soft kiss he placed on her cheek, she could tell it had been necessary.

Will had missed his mother, a lot. But now, he missed Lyra even more. He didn't know it was possible to miss some one this much. It was one of the terrible truths of life, that they could travel between thousands of worlds, that they had even traveled to a land no one thought existed, had saved all of mankind and more, and then couldn't see each other ever again. But in spite of the pain he had been in all year, it had been worth it. It had been worth it to meet his daemon. It had been worth it to meet his father.

It had been worth it when he told his mother that he had met his father. That his father alone had been able to cure him. That his father had stayed true to her for the rest of his life, despite the advances of several beautiful women. That his father was proud of him. That he had taken up his father's mantle. The thought flushed him with pride.

But worth it most of all was Lyra. Lyra a hundred times over. As he sat down on the bench, he knew Lyra was doing the same in her world. And he couldn't keep the grin off of his face. Right now, he knew exactly where Lyra was, what she was doing, and what she was thinking about. He wished, for the umpteenth time, that he knew what she was doing in her life. He knew she had gone back to Jordan College, but had she stayed there? Had she started her alethiometer lessons like she planned so long ago?

At times like this, Will almost hated himself. Hated that he had been strong enough to destroy the knife. But at the same time, he loved himself for it. He loved Lyra with a passion, a passion that stemmed from his soul, the soul that would be reunited with Lyra in the years to come. With the subtly of the knife bearer, Will could feel the thousands of worlds that he was touching. And he felt one in particular, and knew, from deep within himself, that it was Lyra's. And this, more than anything else, sent tears to his eyes. She was so close that he was touching her, yet so far that he would never touch her again.

As the clock tower struck one, Will was brought out of his reverie. The hour was up. Ten more minutes, he thought. Ten more minutes to be close to Lyra. At least he was looking forward to death. Kirjava growled at him.

"I miss Pantalaimon just as much, you know that. But you can't go wishing yourself _dead_, Will. What would Lyra think? She'd be ashamed."  
"I know, Kirjava, I know. I'm not wishing for death at all! I'm just saying, at least we're not scared of it like some other people are. At least we know there's some one waiting for us. And not just anyone either" he said with a smile. "Lyra'll be there."  
"Provided she dies first. But if she doesn't, you'll wait for her right? Down in the land of the dead, with Gracious Wings?"  
"Of course I'd wait for her! What do you think I am? We went through the door together last time, and were going through it together this time too."  
"Alright. Well, it kills me to say it, but lets get going, Will. We don't want to leave your mother alone for too long. Besides, Mary said she'd have some brownies for us when we got home."

Of course. Mary and his mother. He needed to focus on them right now. As Lyra had said, he had to be all those difficult things like cheerful, kind, curious and patient, and he needed to study, think and work hard in his own world. With a sigh, he stood up and followed Kirjava.

And so the boy and his daemon left the garden, to go build their own Republic of Heaven.

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**A/N So what did you guys think? Liked it, loved it, hated it? all reviews are deeply appreciated! Even flames, I promise I wont get offended. Im a very new writer, so I really need some good honest criticism. Reviews really do make my day! lol I know Im a nerd**

**So I have quite a few ideas for this story. I originally intended it to be just these two chapters, but I started thinking more and more about it. And have come up with four options for it. 1) end it now. 2) make a chapter, kind of like these, with the pov's/ happenings of several other main characters like Iorek, Serafina, Mary etc 3) make a third and final chap when Will and Lyra meet in the World of the Dead 4) Combine option 2 and 3. I'm still not quite sure yet. Any and all suggestions are also deeply appreciated!!**

**I also wrote a Harry Potter story that would love to be read, so if any of you readers like HP, please check it out!**

**And lastly, who else of yall (sorry I'm from Texas, cant help it lol) are disgusted by the controversy surrounding the Golden Compass movie? For my position, just read the rant in my profile lol **


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